"Pouf!"
The sudden, somewhat muffled deflating sound truly startled Cheche.
Not because of the noise, but because the "Monarch Ball" had landed on the floor with a "thud" and couldn't bounce back up again.
White, short socks.
Her steps on the floor sounded a little heavy.
The plump, Big Horned Loli stood silently in front of the deflated sphere.
"—"
In Imperial Year 5322, [The Throne] was about to suffer an unprecedented disaster. The vast majority of Imperial subjects only felt the terrifying, dark cloud-like pressure overhead but had no idea where the pressure was coming from.
Fortunately, Cheche managed to suppress the emotion that was about to erupt.
"Hmph."
Her soft hand picked up the sphere from the floor. A sound of extreme grievance quickly faded in the room.
"It broke."
This was a gift the Monarch had given Cheche.
In terms of quality, this toy, which used a series of valuable materials including [Dragon Hide] (donated by a Dragonkin Grand Monarch) and [Bug Silk] (a trophy from a Swarm Emissary), and could loosely be categorized as a "ball," had finally failed the test of extreme force. The Dragon Hide possessing the [Immortality] attribute (taken from the most precious "inner nape inverse scale skin") meant that the "ball" in Cheche's hands could never be damaged due to the passage of time.
However, the combined strength of Little Bai and Cheche was ultimately too much for the ball to bear.
Even after multiple reinforcement enchantments (the 1.0 version of the ball dated back to the first millennium after the Empire's founding), it finally met its natural end... in the Empire's sixth millennium.
---o---
"..."
Cheche looked at the ball in her hands and fell silent.
This was an important gift from Little Bai; throwing it away was completely out of the question.
The current plan, of course, was to find someone to repair it.
But the problem was that while causing destruction was Cheche's "specialty," sewing and mending were definitely not.
And as for potential candidates... this was a UR+ "Mirror Shard" tier item. Without sufficient power, repairing this epic-tier equipment called "the ball" was impossible.
Among all those in the Empire who had the skill:
Little Zi was immediately ruled out. Leaving aside whether she was home or not, Little Zi had been coveting Cheche's ball for a long time. If it fell into her hands, there was no telling what monstrous thing she would modify it into. Although Little Zi was the best known craftsperson in the Empire, Cheche instinctively rejected this option.
"I'll go find Ely."
After mulling over the options, Cheche finally settled on her target.
Crude old-timers like Kevin, who only knew how to slurp noodles, were unnecessary to mention. While MEI was good at research, repairing a ball might not be her forte—and since the materials used in the ball were precious, Cheche also worried MEI might secretly pilfer some raw materials.
After much thought, Elysia seemed like a good choice.
She decided to go immediately. Cheche placed the ball on a shelf by the table and quickly jogged to the dressing room to find a suitable bag. Cheche didn't trust storing the ball in [Imaginary Space]; for someone of her level, she might accidentally smash it without realizing.
"Clatter."
"Clatter."
Baskets and clothes. Various daily necessities made of precious materials were carelessly tossed onto the floor by Cheche. Although the room was constructed from Imaginary energy and the Path, and everyone on [The Throne] had a large space like this, Little Zi always crammed a huge pile of daily necessities into Cheche's house under the pretext of "lack of space."
And every time Little Bai and Cheche played... Little Zi would use the excuse that "she left something here" to force her way over for a visit.
"Ah."
"Found it."
At the bottom of the hamper in the dressing room, Cheche finally found her target: a somewhat plain "snake-skin bag (dragon-scale pouch)."
The Empire had a good relationship with the Dragonkin, and many items made from Dragonkin materials were actually confiscated by the Empire when they annihilated civilizations that had engaged in "Dragon Hunting." Since the [Dragonkin] couldn't bear to see the "remains" of their kin, the number of such items in [The Throne] gradually increased.
Of course, the item itself was indeed good. This pouch, woven from dragon scales and hide, was very effective at blocking spatial fluctuations and preventing internal aura leakage. Simply put, if Cheche put something inside, no one would know what she was carrying, let alone be able to steal it from the pouch.
The reason for Cheche's extreme caution was... she had been tricked by Little Zi before.
"Thud."
"Thud."
Cheche grabbed the pouch, placed the damaged ball inside, and headed toward Elysia's quarters—
"Swoosh."
"?"
---o---
"Oh?"
A woman with long wine-red hair bumped right into Cheche outside Elysia's door. In the private domains within The Throne, unless there was a vast difference in rank and urgent matters were involved, one had to knock and receive permission before entering.
"Your Highness Behemoth, are you here to see Ely?" Eden asked, slightly covering her mouth to show her surprise. Aside from "deep dives into the Quantum Sea" and "major faction conflicts," Cheche rarely appeared before Imperial subjects. Even high and mid-level Imperial officials within [The Throne] seldom saw Cheche in public.
"Mhm, urgent business," Cheche nodded, subtly covering the opening of the dragon-scale pouch. Then she prepared to knock on Elysia's door.
"About that—" Eden stopped Cheche's movement. "Ely isn't home." (Of course, this was only verbal. The only being in the Imperial domain capable of physically stopping Cheche was the Monarch himself. Even Little Zi wouldn't claim one hundred percent success.)
"?"
"I just came out of Ely's place."
Faced with Cheche's puzzled expression and a subtle hint of "irritation" that Eden keenly picked up on, she quickly explained:
"We just received a message from the Human Empire. The message came directly from the 'Terra High Lords Council.' I heard that the Human Empire's Northern Group Army is currently fighting Greenskins that appeared out of nowhere, and at the same time, there's a large-scale 'Tau' rebellion in the nearby star system."
"The Human Empire can't spare any forces yet; their fleet deployment will take at least twelve standard hours. Our 27th Fleet and 33rd Legion happen to be stationed in the nearby star system, and their arrival won't take more than 1.5 standard hours."
"So..." Eden slightly shrugged, spilling all the information in one go.
"Does this require Ely's personal involvement?" Cheche's voice carried a slight tone of displeasure.
"She was getting bored cooped up at home and wanted to go out for a walk. Ely was originally going to call me, but I need to go to the [Garden of Recollection] for a joint conference. The 'Incinerators' and the 'Riddlers' have had a small disagreement, and they need a qualified neutral party to arbitrate."
"..."
The corridor of [The Throne] fell into unprecedented silence.
"Fine."
"Remember to bring some people with you. Those two sides are bound to end up fighting." Cheche paused, then warned Eden.
"Thank you for the advice... Is there anything I can help you with?" Cheche was not good at hiding her feelings. While normally no one would dare to guess her thoughts, the famously "composed" Eden clearly didn't mind these "details."
"Hmm..." Hearing Eden, Cheche lifted her head and scrutinized her carefully, then came to a final conclusion—
"No. You don't have the knack for it."
"??"
---o---
After a long detour, Cheche returned to her room.
Incidentally, Cheche had paused outside Shesha's door for a while. Although there was no official information to confirm it, Cheche believed that Little Snakey's tailoring skills were at least "Legendary" tier.
As for the source of this intelligence... the famous model on the Galactic Trend Guide, and the well-known fashion master in the star-sea fashion industry, "Miss Shana," was actually Shesha.
This was Cheche's exclusive intelligence; even Little Bai and Little Zi, who followed the Galactic Trend Guide very closely, were unaware.
And incidentally, Shesha, who thought he hid his "little hobby" very well, had no idea that "Cheche knew about it."
Then, the very "considerate" Cheche thought it over and abandoned the idea of asking Shesha for help... This was for Little Snakey's future consideration. After all, the Empire's territory and influence were growing daily, and the level of social death involved couldn't be solved by just packing up and flying to Mars overnight.
However, just as Cheche stood outside her own door, before walking in—
"Were you looking for Ely?" Fairy Ely, the chibi, two-headed, floating doll specifically created by the Imperial Science Academy for Elysia, suddenly appeared behind Cheche.
This compact little assistant was responsible for redirecting and handling various daily matters when Elysia was away. Since she was fun to play with (in a literal sense) and usually didn't go out, Cheche and Fairy Ely had a very good relationship.
"Oh!"
Seeing Fairy Ely, Cheche gently placed the dragon-scale pouch on the ground and instantly "captured" the floating doll—the Big Horned Loli gave Fairy Ely a lift overhead.
"??"
Fairy Ely looked confused.
"You came just in time." Cheche used her usual inverted sentence structure. "Can you sew?"
"Sew?" Fairy Ely didn't immediately grasp the question.
"Yes. An important thing broke."
"I need someone to sew it. No, I need someone to teach me."
"Hmm..." Fairy Ely, released by Cheche, cocked her head and poked her chin thoughtfully. "It shouldn't be hard?"
"...Very good." Cheche raised her arm again, clamped the now-captured Fairy Ely under her arm like a briefcase, picked up the dragon-scale pouch, and walked into her house.
---o---
"Click."
It was called a room, but there was no actual door. The sound of the lock latch opening came entirely from an externally added sound effect device.
"Cheche."
"We're back!" Little Bai started, but the second half of the sentence was taken over by a "triumphant" Little Zi.
"Ah~" Cheche's reaction was visibly slower than usual. Instead of rushing to greet Little Bai, only half her head, framed by her bangs, peeked out from behind the wall.
"Oh?"
"Cheche, is your head broken—"
"BANG!!"
Before Little Zi could finish, a milky white "sodium salt of carboxylic acid," hurled like a hidden weapon, slammed right into Little Zi's forehead just as she was bending down to take off her shoes, knocking her to the floor.
"Wait for me."
"Ouch!"
Ignoring Little Zi's "agonized" moan as she clutched her forehead, Cheche's exposed head instantly disappeared after leaving those four words.
"Rattle-clank, smash-thump."
Before Little Zi could use "super-regeneration" to recover and charge into the "forbidden zone" to spy on Cheche's secret—
"THUD!!"
The Big Horned Loli rushed out from the corner again—and conveniently delivered a headbutt to Little Zi, right where the "sodium salt of carboxylic acid" had hit her.
"Aiyaya!" Little Zi fell backward again.
Taking advantage of this window, Cheche quickly approached Little Bai. With an expression of obvious "anticipation," she produced the ball from behind her back. It was clearly misshapen but appeared otherwise fine.
"Ah."
Little Bai took the ball and crouched down, raising an arm to gently rub Cheche's head... specifically her two curved horns.
"Did you fix it, Cheche?"
"??"
Cheche had no idea how Little Bai knew the ball had been damaged. Although she was expecting praise, she was mostly eager to go outside and play ball with Little Bai. A treasure repaired by her own hands clearly had a greater sense of attachment than the original.
Then...
"Aww~ Cheche, you hit too hard!" Little Zi, rubbing her forehead, once again defeated gravity and stood up, furious.
"Why are you looking confused?" she complained. "Although the 'ball' was made by Little Bai, its materials were taken from the Imperial treasury. It is... cough, cough... a legitimate [Sacred Item] endowed with the power of a Path. Of course, Little Bai would know if it was broken!"
"!!"
Cheche's eyes widened, silently conveying her shock.
"Sigh~" Little Zi habitually sighed. "If I had known Cheche had the ability to fix things herself, we wouldn't have had to buy that in advance."
"?"
Cheche had no idea what Little Bai and Little Zi were talking about.
"Little Zi, you weren't saying that just a moment ago—"
"Cough! Cough!" Little Zi coughed even louder than before. "Little Zi is sick and needs a shot."
"Hey! You two! Stop playing along with each other!" Little Zi shouted. "The item is still in my hand! Don't you dare think I won't send it straight into another dimension!"
"—"
Little Bai and Cheche exchanged glances.
Then, Little Bai "forcefully" pulled a golden "Monarch Ball" pillow out of Imaginary Space.
"!!"
The surprise on Cheche's face instantly turned into delight.
"On the way back just now, I sensed the 'ball' had taken a little damage. Since [The Throne] showed no other issues, it could only mean a small problem on your end."
Little Bai looked at the still "blustering" Little Zi.
"After Little Zi heard about it, she immediately dragged me to the 'Prosperity Star System.' They sell many precious materials there, some of which even the Imperial treasury doesn't have."
"And then..." Little Bai handed the "Monarch Ball" to Cheche.
"We 'squeezed in time' to make this pillow for you."
"Right! We just squeezed in time!"
"..."
Little Bai ignored Little Zi's usual tsundere act.
Looking at Cheche's visibly adoring expression—
"Well, as long as you like it."
(End of Extra Chapter 1)